Sydney to Cape York and back to Sydney

Hi Dave
Sorry to be a kill joy but i'm thinking you will spend a week in the car each way up and down the cape. Not much of a holiday?

If travelling alone or with a no-fuss traveller (ie; not kids) you could get to Cairns in 2 -3 days. Approx 3000km. Go the inland route which will be much quicker than the Pacific. Leaves only a week or so for the Cape but it is do-able.

Hi Dave,

Save your leave and do 4 weeks next year. You just can't do the Cape in 2 weeks from Sydney - regardless if you ship the car up or not.

We have met with a lot of travellers up the Cape and it is suprising to find out that those that spend 2 weeks or less have only travelled to half the places, spend twice as long in the car and highlights are 'the caravan park at Seisha' or 'the Dip signs which are a hoot' (admittedly most had kids in the back and were keen to get back home). Most of these people also blaze up the bypass road and their only experience with the OTL is poping into Fruit Bat or Elliot falls for a dip.

We did 3 weeks last year and that is the absolute minimun that I would ever do and only as a second or third trip up. We left out a few places that we visited in 2002 but checked out new places not previously visited.

Regards
David

I beg to differ.. 2 weeks from cairns is easily doable.. you wont do a lot of side trecks etc.. but go for it.. I lived in Townsville for a while and I regularly saw fully equipped 4WDS going past on a train.. not sure about the cost. in fact I am taking a tour up there from Cairns and we will be doing TVL to the tip and back via Lakefield in exactly two weeks and that allows for at least a day of fishing at the tip. not everyone drives 100km and then spends the day setting up camp/sitting around. and you don't need to drive all day everyday either. I think 2 weeks is a reasonable time to get up there and back.

just a thought, why not have someone you can trust drive it up in the week prior, then fly them back & reverse the trip for the return journey, I flew up to Cairns to collect our truck & drove it home, 2 up in 48 hours.
Surely there would be members available to assist, even a relay drive say over 400 / 500 k from their home town.

Just as an idea.

We had our fully loaded 10 tonne truck transported from Derby to Perth for 3K on a step deck for comparison.

Dave,
I had the same problem last year 3 weeks to do the Kimberly. Could not get transport for the vehicle unless it was empty. In the end put the car on the Ghan. I dont know if the same is possible going to Cairns, you may be better off hiring a fourbie and kid your a pommie tourist.

Hi Dave,

I was in the same position as you a few years back and I ended up flying to Cairns and hiring a Landcrusier and starting and finishing my holiday from there. 2 weeks will then be enough for a good holiday in the area. The hire companies will only hire you a vehicle for a minimum of 12 day to try and slow you down.

As some have said you can spend as much time as you like in the area and still not see every thing but from Cairns, 2 weeks will give you a great trip that other wise you might miss out on.

Matt

Hi Aeiou

We spent 10 days up cape out of Carins once and sort of thought we did the majority of tracks

Several times we have now done the commuter sections on long trips by rotating drivers and its amazing how far you can go in 24 hours this way.

It is a matter of setting the car up to be comfortable with drinks and toilet stops planned.
For our last simpson trip we put down 2000k in the first day to get their from melbourne, nothing silly just sticking to the speed limit and keeping each other company for saftey.

I can understand the work pressure that made us plan things this way and sure you wouldn't do this by choice but it can be done in a practical and is a sort of adventure by itself and after all it saves on motel bills.

So go for it , put yourself out for a couple of hards days at either end and if you like our group it becomes the sort of thing they remember around the campfire years later.

Head over to Overlander forum and contact Slunnie. He had his Disco shipped up and back a few years ago, doing the cape as you planned, so he might be able to point you in the right direction.

Just by way of an idea.. there is also a shipping company that will take your car to Seisa from Cairns. Not sure of the names etc.. That way you head south at a more leasurly pace assuming you can find someone to get your car off the train in Cairns and put it on the Barge.. just an idea.

Just a thought:
Why not pick up a rental in Cairns. We had someone do that when we went to the Cape, a troopy with rooftop tent, all cooking gear and fridge included. They were very happy. Theres was from Four Wheel Drive Hire Service now www.sargent.com.au